


Lands' Ending Shorts

by EsdeeAr



Series: Lands' Ending Collection [1]
Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2017-11-24
Packaged: 2019-02-06 07:56:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12813075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EsdeeAr/pseuds/EsdeeAr
Summary: A series of shorts from my days on Gaia Online, collected here for reference in future works.





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter & the next comes at the tail end of my time writing on Gaia Online for an RP pet shop known as Feien Fairies. My main OC, Teralinth d'Kalin, adopted and bonded with three separate Feien: Maquinar, Quantel, and Ori (full name is escaping me at the moment). We're seeing here the emergence of Ori from her bloom, which is the Feien form of hatching/birthing.

An evening like any other, which was winding down with the presence of Tera at her desk, quietly working on some of the numerous inventory sheets she had, tasks from the shops she managed and co-managed. Quantel had a suspicion that a new shop had been added to this series of papers, but as Tera had been quite occupied by whatever it was and seemed to have little time to spare, the blue Feien had not yet asked her of it. Quantel herself, and the bloom as well, were situated to one side, gently swaddled in the sweater and anticipating yet another sleepy night.

Leaning back in her chair, Tera used her thumb and forefinger to rub the bridge of her nose. Though the backlog had been taken care of, there were a number of small jobs still left that began to give her a headache just by thinking of them. She made a note to meet with Ice again in the next few days to work out some of the details. Literally. The silverish quill in her hand skated over to a blank sheet of parchment and scrawled "Meet w/ Ice Q by Thurs" in scrolling letters, before she placed the quill back into its inkwell. Catching the sheet up with her nails, she lifted the page up so she could blow across the ink lightly, hoping to get it dry before she tucked it away for later use.

As she held it, the paper began to quiver, then slowly, ever so slowly, the top of it tipped backwards, angling towards the desk as if drawn to it. Emerald eyes narrowing, Tera watched the paper until it finally touched the desk, aware of its slightly heavier sensation between her fingers. Simutaneously she felt the tiny hairs along the back of her hands rising, and heard a soft, sharp inhalation from Quantel's direction. Her attention shot there, taking in the strange sight of Quantel, eyes wide and hair standing out, who was staring at the bloom.

Having not actually witnessed the emerging of her first two Feien, Tera at first did not realize what was happening. Her human eyes simply saw the bloom, glistening in the warm light of the lamp, its spikes and fronds trembling almost imperceptibly. When she dropped the illusion cloaking her features, she still saw little else with her elven eyes, save the addition of a soft haze of magic surrounding the bloom, pulsing and flaring subtly. To her complete astonishment, a tiny hand began to protrude from the haze, stretching, reaching outwards. The hand clutched about blindly, until it found a spike and seized it, pulling. A second hand joined the first, grazing the end of the spike before finding purchase and pulling upwards as well.

Quantel was the first to come to the aid of the bloomling, and that which was emerging from it, heart racing and mind whirling. She rose and caught the wrists of the young Feien, long fingers wrapping firmly around them. When she felt the Feien began to pull away, she called softly, yet authoritatively, "Calm yourself and permit my help." Coppery and warm, the scent of blood rose to Quantel's nostrils, and she felt the slickness of it as she renewed her grip on the Feien's wrists. Whether it was recognition of Quantel's voice, or merely acknowledgement of the command, mattered little, save for the fact that the Feien ceased struggling and released the spike, instead using the leverage of Quantel's grip to continue its battle to emerge.

Her breath caught in her throat as Tera watched what was occurring, leaning in unconsciously for a better view. As Quantel pulled, more of the Feien was visible, tiny arms covered with blue and black markings, a head wreathed in bright white locks. From her vantage point, Tera was unable as of yet to make out a face, or even an apparent gender, though she knew the Feien were genderless by nature. That glorious mane continued, tangled in what Tera took to be bits of the bloom, black and red highlights shooting throughout it and cloaking most of the Feien from view. It was at this point that Quantel cried out at the exertion, then flung her wings out to either side, beating them once and rising up from the sweater. Aware of the young Feien coming free of the bloom for the briefest of moments, Tera watched as Quantel landed with her charge, her wings habitually folding down to cover and protect both from outside forces. At the same time, the parchment still in Tera's hand lightened, and she felt as if a slight, imperceptible weight throughout the room had lifted.

In the dark cocoon of her wings, Quantel panted softly, mentally chiding herself for being as foolish as to use physical means to do the job. Her hands still clung to the new Feien's wrists, so fragile in her grip, and she rued the fact that she had never attempted to master the art of dark vision. She could feel the breath of the other against her face, the tangled weave of hair that could be hers, could be the other's, could be both intertwined. Willing her heart to slow, Quantel reached forward mentally in an effort to detect the level of power within this one, and was mildly disappointed in what she found. _No matter. Other uses can be found._ The other Feien was beginning to recover as well, which was a much better sign. Through the darkness, Quantel whispered, "You hurt yourself on emerging, aii?" 

There was a moment of hesitation, and the new Feien whispered back, in a lilting, feminine voice, "I did..." Even now, she could feel the roll of liquid as it emerged from her stinging fingertips, sense the path it formed as it dripped through the air before landing in soft droplets on her leg. The hands of this other creature moved effortlessly, knowingly, releasing her wrists and moving together to cup the fingers that bled. Something was familiar about this one, comfortingly so, as was the beginning tingle in the palm of her hand, the tingle that moved up through each finger and seemed to force her flesh to knit itself together again.

As Quantel performed the healing spell on the wound, her thumbs gently caressed the soft hand in her grasp. This moment was important beyond anything else she could do, these first few moments she would share with the new Feien. What happened now would either cement the work she had performed thus far, or destroy it all in a single heartbeat; with so many other things that had gone wrong in her life, Quantel was determined that this endeavor bear fruit. "Give me but a moment, and you shall then be presentable to our Bond." 

"All right." With the pain receding, she became less uncertain as to these new surroundings. The time before this, not including her recent struggle to be free of whatever it was that had held her mere moments ago, were murky and jumbled, more sensations and feelings than actual memories. It was safe here, and warm, and whoever was with her she could tell had been with her for a very long time now. She remembered her first clear vision, among the jumble of other images that accompanied her arrival, when she had lifted her head and found herself gazing up at the cool, intent visage of this other, remembered a moment of realization before those enormous wings had swung out and performed the maneuver that had pulled her free. "What... who are you?" 

Quantel smiled at the question, even as she lifted a fold of the sweater that still cradled them, using it to wipe the blood from both herself and the young one. _Soon to be your reason for being._ "I am a Feien, just as you are." Her hands found the tangled mane of hair before her, smoothing it back and combing through it with her fingers. Though the hard protuberances from the other's forehead surprised her, she made no show of it, and did what she could at this moment to avoid drawing attention to that. Continuing, she whispered, "We are both members of a dying race; it pleases me immensely that you have made your arrival somewhat unharmed." 

The girl nodded, briefly, eyes squinting in an attempt to see in the gloom cast by the wings around them. At the thought of wings, some muscles along her back quivered, and she felt a part of her brushing against the protective living shield. _Feien,_ she thought, and knew instinctively that these things on her back were wings of her own, and she experimentally attempted extending them, where they bumped and rubbed against the older Feien's wings. To her amazement, someone or something seized her wings and stilled them, pressing them gently but inescapably back down.

The use of her magic hand had been automatic at a stranger's touch, but Quantel quickly turned the mistake into a learning experience. "Rubbing one's wings against those of another Feien is both impolite and immoral." She kept her voice soothing, using tones she had heard from Tera when the Bond had needed to explain something to one of the Juu without insulting its intelligence. "I shall do what I can to teach you our ways, for there are Feien among us much less tolerant of such faux pas." Before the girl could answer, Quantel had found her hands once more. "Now you meet our Bond, my dear." 

As the minutes had dragged by, Tera began to become concerned. The huddle of leathery blue wings had twitched occasionally, but there had been no other sign of life from the two Feien. Had something gone wrong? Was the new Feien all right? She had been on the verge of reaching out to gently move the wings aside when they lifted on their own, Quantel standing upright and helping the new Feien to its feet. She found herself leaning even closer, eyes widening at the sight of this tiny new, decidedly female, Feien. When both had stood upright, Quantel keeping one hand on the other's shoulder, Tera released the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.

The girl, first wanting to see her benefactor, had been staring at Quantel when she felt the exhalation of warm air, then turned her head in that direction and blinked, surprised. The area around them was *huge*, and the being in front of them seemed even more so. Green eyes as large as her own head stared at her, and she shifted from one foot to the other, wondering at this strange feeling in her stomach. The face before her seemed familiar, in the same sense that the other Feien had seemed familiar, but not quite as strongly.

Tera's first realization was that the parts she had briefly thought to have been broken pieces of the bloom were in fact attached to her new Feien, who even now was blinking up at her and leaning closer to Quantel. It was this blinking that brought Tera to her second and third realizations, simultaneously: Two tiny horns and three even tinier eyes. She'd witnessed third eyes before, on Ares, and vaguely recalled Maq mentioning a Feien with horns, but the two together with the presence of spikes was something entirely new and, as far as she knew, completely unprecedented. Realizing she was staring, Tera attempted to break the tension with a soft smile, then, in the same low, carrying tones she knew tiny creatures such as the Pixas could tolerate, she spoke. "Welcome, little one. I am Teralinth d'Kalin, your Bond."

The little Feien smiled back, slowly at first. "That's a nice name." Her wings quivered, and she asked, "Are you supposed to be that big?" No sooner had those words left her lips than the strange sensation of her wing being seized happened again, the pressure not painful, but not to be ignored either. The most perplexing thing about this was the fact that, as she turned to look, she could clearly see the hand of Quantel's that was not resting still on her back hanging at the other woman's hip.

Quantel leaned in, softly chiding, a whisper meant only for the ears of the young one, "One does not ask such questions of those bigger than they, lest the bigger ones see it as a sign of weakness." She loosened the grip of her magic hand, smoothing gently over the delicate membranes of the wing with it, smiling at the girl in a matronly, kind fashion. "Many things for you to learn whilst you are still young, aii?" 

As her Feien spoke, Tera attempted to listen, vainly, despite the accented hearing of her de-illusioned features. One brow arched upwards. "What are the two of you whispering about?"

"I am informing the young one that there is much for her to learn," Quantel supplied smoothly; not a lie, per se, for she already knew it was impossible to lie to her Bond. "My next words were to be that much in this world she has entered into will be immensely large, in comparison to herself." 

"Is this so, Ori?" The Gospen word for "eyes" slipped out before Tera could stop it, and she winced inwardly. _Smooth one, Ter._ From the eager nod, and sudden bright smile, of the new Feien, she relaxed, chuckled even. "It looks like you've got yourself a teacher, then, in Quantel there."

Smothering down the rush of joy that rose within her at Tera's words, Quantel inquired, as if innocent to the meaning behind the word, "Shall 'Ori' be her name then, Tera?" 

"Oh, yes, please!" At this exclamation, Tera could do little but laugh and nod. Thus christened, Ori bounced slightly, excitedly, until the strange pressure against her wing returned and stilled her. With a slight glance to the side, where Quantel stood, she bit the corner of her lower lip. Another mistake? Glancing down at the surface beneath her feet, she wondered how long it would be before she knew what was proper and what was not. Lucky, then, that Quantel was so willing to help her learn.

The joy bubbled again when Quantel's touch had made this one, this Ori, quiet down so quickly. How very, very easy this was proving to be.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuation of Chapter 1

Finally, finally, after what had seemed like an agonizingly long tour of the House to Quantel, Tera had retired for the night, though not before moving the sweater in which the Shadow Feien and her new charge would sleep to her bed. Once she was certain Tera was really, truely asleep, Quantel smiled into the darkness, then heaved a tiny, false sigh of relief. Ori stirred in the folds of the sweater beside her, the movements all the more apparent due to the fact that her spines caught on the soft knit fabric. Before the girl could begin with any questions, Quantel reached out a hand to touch the young one's shoulder gently. "I thank you for being so patient, so quiet, given the light of the circumstances." 

Ori hesitated, not certain what to say to that, before she nodded. "I figured that if I was supposed to say something, you'd have let me know." A million questions bubbled up, all wanting to be voiced, but she remembered the firm grip of that unseen hand.

"I apologize for the sudden manner in which I was forced to correct you, but..." Here Quantel glanced in Tera's direction, more to impress upon the girl their Bond's presence, than to actually check on the blonde. "The relationship between a Feien and its Bond is a precarious one, at best." 

Knowing almost nothing about this world she had been born into, Ori nodded, but was still a little perplexed. "'Precarious'?" 

Being ever so careful of those long spines, Quantel shifted herself so that she could sit closer to the girl. _What twisted webs we weave..._ "Aii. I believe I already said we are of a dying race?" When she felt the nod in response to that, she continued. "There was once a time where we had no need of Bonds, but as our people began dying off, we were forced into joining our energies with those larger than us." _Careful, careful. Here we blend the poison..._

Ori listened avidly, nodding her head. Somewhere within her mind these facts connected, explaining little things, such as the soft leap in her throat when she looked at the one named Tera. Joined energies might be the cause of that.

"Of course, where a Bond is able to give us life, they are also able to take it away." Her voice dropped in tone briefly, before she took a deep, fortifying breath. "If a Bond becomes dissatisfied with their Feien, they simply abandon the Feien in question, who then dies a slow, lingering death." The sudden widening of Ori's eyes brought Quantel a mental smile. "Some Bonds have even been known to abandon a Feien, newly out of its bloom, simply because they were dissatisfied with its appearance." 

A shiver ran through Ori's little shoulders. "Its appearance?" 

"Aii." Quantel nodded gravely. "This was why I was so adamant about having you presentable before your meeting with the Bond."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set a while after the first two, Maquinar checks in on their Bond, who's been experiencing a severe depressive episode.

It was just after dawn, but Maq was already done with his morning routine, entering the near-empty kitchen through the open window and panting lightly. Rith smiled at the Feien as he entered, then set a small jar lid, piled high with various breakfast foods, beside the stove where Maq could get to it. Get to he did, and right quickly, landing in a seated position even as he reached forward to scoop great handfuls of scrambled eggs and cheese, chunks of bacon, and a steaming, quasi-gelatinous substance half the Household loved and the other half despised, known as grits.

"If I ate a relative amount to what you do, I would never be able to fit into the kitchen," Rith remarked quietly, his voice heavy with humour, quite unlike the tones his fellow Juu would use for the same remark. Maq snorted, coughed heartily as he inhaled some grits while doing so, then promptly finished off the remainder of his meal.

"Be glad you don't; we've got enough problems trying to feed every damned critter in this House without ya all eating like me." With a broad grin, he grabbed the edge of the lid and flew upwards, then over the sink where he dropped it in with a loud clatter. Morning pleasantries thus exchanged, he headed towards the swinging door that led to the stairwell. This was how it had been every morning for the last few months: Workout, eat, then make the trip upstairs to wait for Anwahs' latest update. Sometimes there were subtle variations, like now, where the dull black ache that was what currently occupied Tera's mind was absent, showing that she had managed to fall asleep, though whether it was from effort, exhaustion, or Anwahs' medicines wasn't something he would be privy to until the ever-changing woman showed up to check in on her granddaughter.

It was dim in the stairwell, and not much brighter at the top of the stairs, most of the curtains in the House having been drawn shut several weeks ago, about halfway through the ordeal they all now were part of, but it didn't stop Maq from heading up them and directly to Tera's bedroom door at top speed, since he knew the route so well he could probably fly it in his sleep. Reaching the door, he turned about and began to settle down, landing seated as he had in the kitchen, upon the press-down latch that was the door handle.

Now usually what happened was that he would sit here, on the flat latch, and watch down the stairs until Anwahs made her appearance, who would then shoo him away from the door handle so that she could unlock it with her magical means and enter the room to check on Tera. This could take anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours, depending on how late the woman had been up the night before, and how early Maq had finished with his morning routine. He'd have made it his own job to go in and check on Tera if the door hadn't been locked, and the only folks in the House able to unlock it were Walter, Anwahs, and Tera herself. So here Maq would sit, ass first on a slab of cold metal, trying his best to keep himself entertained in the darkness of the empty hall.

Of course, life likes throwing a few curves, especially when there's been a pattern set up, and even more so when a certain deity who was master of Chaos itself resided in the building, so today was a little different. As soon as Maq had settled on the latch, his not-insignificant-weight caused it to suddenly dip downward, a soft click as he was tumbled forward and towards the ground. A brief moment of surprise caught him and he almost hit the floorboards, but at the last second he remembered he could fly and did so, bringing himself back up and level with the door handle, which had already returned to its previous state. Not quite believing what had just happened, he stepped onto the flat latch, pressing down, and was rewarded by the beautiful noise of the mechanism working, proving that the door was, in fact, unlocked this morning.

His first instinct, and the one he followed, was to push the door open and fly inside, all thoughts of Anwahs' numerous warnings that Tera wasn't emotionally stable enough to take any visitors, even those as close to her as Maq was, or especially as close to her as Maq was, falling to the wayside as they often did. He'd been letting his heart lead him lately where his brain struggled to go, after all. When he got inside and saw that Tera was not curled up in bed, hiding away from the world, his brain let out an indignant series of profanities that his mouth would have repeated, had his jaw not dropped and the capability of speech left him.

Sitting at her desk, neat as could be, Tera made another notation on the paper she was working with, sunlight gleaming off the pen she used. Heedless of every warning Anwahs had given him in the last few weeks, heedless even of that empty space in the back of his mind where Tera's being was supposed to be, Maq flew forward quickly, landing on her shoulder and throwing his arms around the top of her head. Joy, pure and simple, bubbled up in his chest and blocked up his throat, keeping him from being able to say any of the words that ached to be said, to express how much he had missed her and how happy he was to see her back, up and about. Because of their bond, verbal expression wasn't necessary, and her hand released the pen so as to be able reach up and pat his back gently, her thoughts meeting his and acknowledging all that lay therein.

Fortunately, for the moment, he gave off enough love and happiness for two people, since Tera's thoughts continued to issue from that emotionless void.


End file.
